Research Skills Tutorial

Main Page | Modules: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Outcomes

Contents of this Module:

Learning Outcomes
The Internet Defined
Research Functions of the Internet
World Wide Web Search Systems
Effective World Wide Web Searching
Finding Reviewed Web Sites

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, students should be able to evaluate information critically, using six criteria:

1. Understand what the Internet encompasses.
2. Realize the research limitations of the Internet.
3. Understand different Internet functions.
4. Understand the research value of each Internet function.
5. Search the World Wide Web effectively.
6. Identify rated World Wide Web sites.

The Internet Defined

The Internet is an international network of networks, electronically linking people, computers and information resources. There is a vast amount of information available on the Internet and it grows daily. Much of this information is self-promotion, opinion, propaganda and even misinformation. Valuable and useful information can be found on the Internet, if the researcher knows how and where to find it.

Moreover, the researcher should be aware that not all information is available on the Internet. The largest factor leading to this incompleteness is copyright law. Publishers are in business to make a profit; simply mounting their information on the Internet for free would severely impact their profits. Some publishers now provide subscriptions to or on-line payment methods to access their on-line, copyright-protected information.

The Internet is more than the World Wide Web (WWW) and e-mail (electronic mail). It supports several different functions:

E-mail -- a communication system that allows one person to send a message to another person or to a group of people.

FTP -- File Transfer Protocol, allows files to be transferred from one computer to another over the Internet.

Gopher -- an application that seamlessly provides access to and retrieval of Internet resources, generally text-based information. Gopher was a precursor of the WWW.

Telnet -- allows a user to log in to a computer at another location on the Internet and to access the programs and applications available on that computer.

WWW -- World Wide Web, an information browsing and searching system based on hypertext links, which allows the user to move from web document to related web document within an information network. The WWW integrates text, sound, graphics and moving images.

Research Functions on the Internet

Any of the five Internet functions listed above may be used to conduct research, summarized as follows:

E-mail
The researcher may use the e-mail function to "subscribe" to a listserv discussion group. These discussion groups, or electronic conferences, each focus on a single, specialized topic. Messages are e-mailed to the listserv and then distributed via e-mail to all subscribers of the listserv discussion group. Questions may be posed to the group or information may be gathered by observing current discussion. Numerous listservs compile previous discussions in archival files, which may be searched for further information.

FTP
All kinds of files may be obtained using ftp: text, sound, graphics, moving images and even software. The ability to download such files could be invaluable, depending upon the research project. However, the researcher needs to know the Internet address and full directory path for the file in advance, in order to ftp it.

Gopher
Fewer and fewer Internet resources are available via gopher, but there are still some good gopher sites on the Internet. Unless a specific gopher address is known, the researcher needs to telnet to a publicly accessible gopher site to get started. Access to gopher resources is organized by topical menus on these public gopher sites.

Telnet
The most frequently used research function of telnet is to connect to on-line library catalogs. This may be done by entering the target telnet address in the telnet software, or by selecting a library from an on-line listing of library catalogs. The "Library Catalogs" menu in the CARL system is one example of such an on-line listing.

WWW
The WWW is the function used most frequently to conduct research on the Internet. Web page addresses do not need to be known in advance, as they can be identified by conducting a WWW search. Research on the WWW is more like browsing in a department store; the researcher has an idea of what is sought but doesn’t know exactly what will be found.

The software that is used to access the WWW is called an Internet browser. Two popular browsers are Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

WWW Search Systems

While Internet browsers are used to access the WWW, search systems (also called "search engines") are used to search the WWW. These search systems are commercial competitors and all approach web searching slightly differently. Some search systems are merely directories of web sites, with hyperlinks to web sites grouped by topics. Yahoo! is an example of a directory search system. Other search systems perform actual searches of web sites, often previously identified, indexed and rated. Google is an examples of a search index system.

WWW search systems are revised and upgraded continuously. And, search systems come and go. For these reasons, we will not attempt to evaluate any WWW search systems in this tutorial. For the latest status on and reviews of search systems, consult any on-line reviewing sites. One examples of web sites that review search systems are the Internet Scout Project from the University of Wisconsin.

General computing magazines such as PC Magazine, MacUser and Internet World also regularly review and compare WWW search systems.

Effective World Wide Web Searching

(see also Module 2: Effective Database Searching)

Here are some tips for building more effective WWW searches:

1. Recognize the type of search system being used. Is it a directory or a search index? Adjust the approach to searching appropriately.
2. Check the help screens of the search system for searching tips and guidelines for using that search system.
3. Realize that no search systems catalog the entire Internet. For a more comprehensive search, multiple search systems should be used.
4. Be creative and persistent with the terminology used in a search query. Some search systems index web sites using the same words that appear on the web site’s home page. Search queries on these search systems must be constructed using the exact, same word(s) in order to identify that web site. Other search systems create their own subject index terms, but these terms usually differ from one search system to the next. Developing a list of alternative terminology prior to starting a search is a good, time-saving idea.
5. Determine whether and how Boolean searches can be performed by the search site. This information is usually available on the search system help screen. Boolean searching can improve search results dramatically.
6. Use quotation marks around words that constitute a phrase, such as "multicultural education." Otherwise, most search systems impose the "or" Boolean operator between the words, and the search results will likely be disappointing.

Finding Reviewed Web Pages

Because there is so much information on the Internet that is not appropriate or useful for a research project, some researchers may prefer to use web sites that have been reviewed and rated. There are several ways to identify these sites. The easiest method is to stay current with your own professional literature. Professional journals frequently include review articles that list the top web sites for that profession.

There are also web-based reviews of web sites. One excellent site for reviews is the Scout Report from the University of Wisconsin. Other directory sites like the Librarian's Index to the Internet and the Internet Public Library provide directories of annotated sites, noting which ones will be best for your purposes.

Another source of reviewed web sites is NetFirst. NetFirst is a FirstSearch system database that indexes reviewed (but not rated) Internet resources by standard library subject headings. The researcher could use this database to identify WWW sites and listservs on a given topic. The entry for each Internet resource includes a hyperlink to the site and a summary of the contents.